Dr. H.: I was pretty sore this first week. Here's Dr. Jacques' comments.

Dr. C.: Soreness... Gotta love it! It's the best tool that personal
trainers have to know whether or not their clients are working out
at their maximal potential. Soreness is the first sign of muscle
growth and an increase in strength. Let's briefly look into the science of
soreness.

When you lift weights, the stress placed on your muscles results in many
tiny, microscopic tears in the muscle. As soon as you begin exercising, your
body prepares for healing and rebuilding. In the process of healing, your
body adds nerve cells and increases muscle tissue so it can be ready for your
next workout. Nerve cells are produced quickly, and result in a fairly quick
increase in strength! Muscle takes a little more time.

It is very important for you to recognize the three degrees of soreness.

First degree soreness is the burning feeling that you get while performing
a particular exercise. Lactic acid is a natural chemical waste product that
is produced during exercise. As your muscle increase their endurance, your
body becomes more efficient in getting rid of lactic acid, so you can exercise
longer.

Second degree soreness is the soreness that you feel 24-48 hours after a
good workout, or a change in workout routine. Second degree soreness is dull,
achy and worse when using the sore muscle. This feeling is slightly painful,
but tolerable. Research has shown that stretching does not prevent this type
of soreness, but light exercise may help. Regardless, it will go away in a
day or two. Should you workout if you are sore? Yes, but only perform exercises
that aren't too uncomfortable. You may need to decrease the weight if your
soreness prevents you from handling the amount of weight that you used in
your previous workout. Overall, beginner's experience soreness when beginner
a weight lifting program, Athletes experience soreness when increasing the
intensity of the workout, changing the routine, or starting a new workout
design.

Third degree soreness is an emergency. This type of "soreness," also known
as "I think I pulled a muscle or broke something," is probably just that.
You likely strained a muscle or tendon (the fibrous tissue that connects muscle
to bone), or sprained a ligament (the fibrous tissue that connects two bones
together). In more severe cases, you may have fractured a bone. Please do
not hesitate to seek immediate medical treatment if pain is sudden, severe,
or if a particular area becomes red, warm and swollen. The best immediate
treatment is to apply an ice pack to the affected area for 20 minutes at a
time. Avoid using the affected limb and elevate the area above the level of
the heart to reduce swelling. Practice correct technique, and avoid progressing
too fast to prevent significant injury.

[Dr. H.: Throughout the first few weeks of exercise and following
Dr. Jacques' basic plan, he and held the following conversation.
It goes into a lot more detail about each of the exercises.]

Dr. H.: This week has been going great but tougher than I thought it would be. I
wasn't sure how close to stand to the wall. I did tuck the lifted leg behind
my knee and that gave me a lot more stability.

Dr. C.: Exactly! Tucking that unused leg behind the other will offer you a lot
more stability.

Let's jump back to the upper body and work on what I call the "beach muscles,"
or the biceps. The biceps are probably the first muscles we realize
we have as children and by far are the most popular. I have to
admit, I favor these muscles greatly. From a functional perspective,
the biceps are important in lifting and holding weight with your arms. What
you may not realize is that the biceps are also important in twisting your
wrist from the palm down to palm up position, which can be important when
creating torque when using a screwdriver or when opening up a jar. Fun fact,
I guess... Anyway, to fill out your upper body, you want to spend some time
in your workout exercising your biceps.

Find the barbell rack in your gym. You may notice two type of bars, a straight
bar and a bar that has two curves in the middle of the bar. If available,
choose the bar that has the two curves in the middle, called the curl bar.

Now, determine the proper weight. Start with the 20-pound bar. Grab the
bar with your palms up and shoulder width apart. Start with your arms fully
extended downward so that the bar is near your waist or thighs. Bring your
arms up to your shoulder to perform the curling motion. Return the bar to
the starting position. If you feel that you can do more than 8 reps, try the
30-pound bar. Once you find the proper weight, take the bar to an open area
in the gym, preferably in front of a mirror.

Place the bar on the ground, directly in front of your toes. Stand with
your feet shoulder width apart. Bend down from your waist and grab the bar
with your palms up, shoulder width apart. If using a curl bar, grab the weight
on the most inner portion of the upward curve. Now, stand up by pushing from
your legs, not with your back.

Over a four second period, exhale and curl the barbell to your shoulders.
Then, inhale and return the bar back to the starting position over four seconds.
Perform 3 sets of 12 reps.

Tips:

1. Take a 1-2 minute rest between sets.

2. Avoid leaning over or leaning back during this exercise. Your abdominal
and back muscles are especially exercised during Biceps Curls. Keeping your
back straight during the workout will strengthen your abdominal and back,
or core, muscles.

3. You will likely feel the most sore, in a day or so, in the inner bend
of your elbow. This is natural, and occurs because your biceps tendon that
connects your biceps muscle to your forearm may be a bit sore. You should
not; however, feel soreness in your shoulder after performing Biceps Curls.
Remember, that you should see your doctor if you have severe soreness after
doing any exercise.

Dr. H.: OK, even I could do this one...

How long should I work out at 12 reps before adding weight?

Dr. C.: Once you can perform 3 sets of 12 of a particular exercise of 2-3 workouts,
you should increase the weight. When increasing the weight, make sure you
can at least perform 8 repetitions in the first set. If you can't you may
have jumped the weight up a bit too much.

Dr. C.: Now that your beach muscles have received some attention, let's
exercise the triceps. But before we do, here is a quick lesson on "antagonistic
muscles."

An antagonistic muscle is the muscle opposite of the one that you are using.
For example, to bend the elbow, the biceps, located in the front of the upper
arm, are used. To extend the elbow, the triceps, located in the back of the
upper arm are used. You should frequently try to workout the muscles that
are responsible for both movements. It's not always necessary or efficient.
For example, you should include a calf exercise in most of your workouts because
calf muscles require a lot of strength and endurance to perform daily functions.
The antagonist muscles of the calves are the anterior tibialis muscles, or
the foot lifting muscles. Do these need to be as strong as the calves? Not
really. However, strong anterior tibialis muscles are important, especially
in preventing shin splints, but do not need as much or as frequent attention
as the calf muscles do.